Great Bustard
Otis tarda L., 1758
Order Gruiformes
Family Otididae
Conservation status: in Bulgaria: Critically endangered CR A[1a] + C[2a(ii)]+D+E, BDA-II, III (I); International: IUCN-VU, CITES-II, BeC-II, BoC-II, ECS-Spec 1, BD-I.
General distribution. A species with a trans-Palearctic range (from Portugal to Northeastern China). In Europe it breeds in Portugal, Spain, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Moldova, the Ukraine and Southwestern Russia. In the last 100-150 years, with the increase of arable lands, it partially expanded its area.
Distribution and abundance in Bulgaria. At the end of the 19th century it was reported breeding everywhere; later it was found only in the village of Zlatiyata, in Dobrudzha and in the Varna region [1, 2, 3]. At present it is probably extinct as a breeding species. The last two unconfirmed observations of breeding birds are from the middle of the 1990s: in the village of Zlatiyata and near the village of Bezvoditsa, Dobrich region. After 1990 it was observed only in the winter.
Habitats. Arable lands and pastures. In the breeding period it settles in varies open steppe landscapes, virgin-land steppes with rich herbaceous vegetation, mainly in the Spear-grass steppe [4].
Biology. It breeds in various steppe microhabitats: ploughed fields with Rye, hilly forest-free Spear-grass steppes (black earth and clay). It lays 1-10 eggs at the beginning of June. In the last decades the average number of eggs in the whole area of the species decreased from 4 to 2. The young ones hatch in July and remain for a long time with the female. The choice of the breeding area is connected not so much with the nature of the microhabitats as with the presence of animal food in the vicinity, necessary for the young ones at their early age. [7]. It depends on the closeness of the formicaries and their number, because ant eggs are the basic food of the chicks and the young birds. The newly hatched young ones do not have great mobility and their feeding area is limited.
Similar species. The Little Bustard (Tetrax tetrax).
Negative factors. Destruction and change of the habitats and their transformation into lands for agriculture and forestry. Illegal shooting, chemical pollution, disturbance.
Conservation measures taken. A protected species, included in the Red Data Book of Bulgaria (1985). One of its last habitats is declared Protected Territory.
Conservation measures needed. Development of a National Plan for its conservation, with a long-term programme for artificial breeding and permanent settlement in appropriate habitats; a large campaign among the local population for popularizing its significance and its conservation; studies of the closeness of the Bulgarian population with the rest of the Central European bustards; creation of a large reserve in the steppe regions of Northeastern Bulgaria.
References. 1. Petrov, Zlatanov, 1950; 2. Boev, 1985; 3. Nankinov et al., 1990. 4. Kirikov, 1979; 5. Voinstvenskiy, 1960; 6. Tyrberg, 1991; 7. Spangenberg, 1946.
Authors: Pavel Zehtindzhiev, Zlatozar Boev, Dimitar Georgiev, Nikolay Karaivanov
